Running head: ETHICAL ISSUE OF SELF-DISCLOSURE

Ethical Issue Review of Self-Disclosure

Jade Davis-Hurt
Argosy University

ETHICAL ISSUE OF SELF-DISCLOSURE

The article Looking after your pearls: The dilemmas of mental health self-disclosure in
higher education teaching written by Matthew Gough in 2011 was selected for a review of
ethical issues in teaching in higher education. This purpose of this article is to explore the topic
of self-disclosure of mental health problems by the professor in the classroom and the personal
impact that the self-disclosure might have to the students and professor (Gough, 2011). The
research was obtained through a workshop session that consisted of educators (Gough, 2011).
The student wished to be able to gain an insight into the ethical issues and concerns that
professors could face when self-disclosure was presented in the classroom or with peers in the
higher education setting.
The author begins by noting that disclosing personal experiences with mental health
issues in the higher learning institutions can be dangerous due to the stigma that is related to
mental health (Gough, 2011). Gough (2011) discusses how the professor can be caught in a
dilemma because their experience with mental heath can provide insight to others, but can cause
a backlash of disassociation from others (Gough, 2011). Even though the educators that took
part in this workshop were varied from service users and careers, there was were also heath and
social care professional in attendance (Gough, 2011). This is concerning to the student, as
professionals, we are taught to have an open mind and be accepting, but even surrounded by
peers in possible mental health fields, a person can be outcasted because of a diagnosis. Possibly
the same diagnosis that professionals teach a student to be caring and understanding of in the
classroom could be criticized outside the class.
To gather the data, the workshop was held at a three-day conference that was focused on
mental health in higher education (Gough, 2011). Twenty people self-selected the workshop and
consisted of an educator from ranges of subject discipline, service users, and careers, as well as

ETHICAL ISSUE OF SELF-DISCLOSURE

health and social care professionals (Gough, 2011). In small groups of 6-7 peers the topics of
benefits of self-disclosure, the cost of self-disclosure, and points of interests were discussed
(Gough, 2011). The smaller groups then came together to discuss consensus points and agree
on rudimentary practice guidelines to inform when and how best to utilize the personal
experience of mental illness and principles of self-disclosure (Gough, 2011, para. 26). This
workshop discovered three themes that emerged when the smaller groups were placed in a whole
group that consisted of the personal impact of disclosure for the professional, impact on student
learning, and ethical concerns (Gough, 2011).
For the professionals, the group members discussed how keeping something so important
hidden could cause more mental health strain (Gough, 2011). IF the professional was able to tell
their side of the story personally, then they had a sense of control over the narrative and
information provided (Gough, 2011). By controlling the information, the professional could use
the disclosure in the appropriate context and then decide how much one released at a given time
(Gough, 2011).
For the students, the group discussed how a professor disclosure could provide personal
perspective and change personal assumptions of a mental illness (Gough, 2011). Then the issue
of who is the professor disclosing the information for, self or student, and what is the benefit
(Gough, 2011). The topic of how the student would then respond to the disclosure was
considered and if the class would be able to handle the information about a professor (Gough,
2011).
The overall concern of the group was the ethics of disclosure in general. One person
raised the concern of boundary issues after the disclosure, especially if a student has dealt with
similar (Gough, 2011). This could cause relationship boundaries to become crossed or heavily

ETHICAL ISSUE OF SELF-DISCLOSURE

blurred (Gough, 2011). Self-disclosure can raise ethical issues about who is the professor selfdisclosing for and are they in the best mental state to disclose this information, thus leading to
privacy issues.
Overall, this article was poorly designed; however, the topic was full of ethical issues that
had never been heavily considered by the student. The student has had a few professors that
disclosed past issues of mental health issues. One could watch the dynamics change in some of
the classes and other classes were never fazed by the information. The aftermath of the reveal is
a risk that one takes with self-disclosure, The reaction can never be known. The greatest concern
is the ethical issues. The article made good references, especially when related to the boundaries.

ETHICAL ISSUE OF SELF-DISCLOSURE

References
Gough, M. (2011). Looking after your pearls: The dilemmas of mental health self- disclosure in
higher education teaching. The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education, and
Practice, 6(4), 203-210.:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17556221111194545